IT Competency Framework

Overview
In order to create a concise way to work with the full range of skills, we organized the individual skills into logical
clusters. The result was a set of seven broad competency areas with specific skills associated with each.
Collectively, these competency areas encompass the entire IT function of state government.
In general, higher proficiency ratings are evident in the competency areas we call management, systems and
databases, technical support services, and legacy technologies. Lower proficiency ratings are evident in the
competency areas of infrastructure, web computing, and management and use of information as an asset.
Training demand is higher in management, web computing and infrastructure competencies, and lower in
systems and databases, management and use of information as an asset, technical support services, and legacy
technologies.

Creating the competency framework

The data on individual skill proficiency ratings and training needs generated an overwhelming amount of detail. In
order to manage so much information more economically and effectively, we used several data analysis
techniques to organize the skills into logical clusters. Table 9 shows the competency area definitions and lists
their associated skills. Statistically, some individual skills are associated with more than one competency area
and, logically, competency areas can overlap in their coverage of concepts. For example, object-oriented analysis
and design methodology is commonly used in the traditional systems development process, but it is also heavily
used in web-based applications development. Similarly, proficiency in data warehousing not only requires good
understanding of database design and development principles, but also information analysis and management
skills and sound business understanding. However, for simplicity of analysis and presentation, each skill was
assigned to the single competency area where its statistical association was strongest.
Table 9. Competency areas and associated skills

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© 2003 Center for Technology in Government www.ctg.albany.edu
IT Competency Framework

Management: (23 skills) Competency encompasses both general and IT management. General skills are
associated with working at a leadership level in organizations, including managing staff, communicating,
managing relationships, and planning and directing work. IT-oriented management is associated with the
treatment of information technology and services as organizational assets, including planning, procuring,
monitoring, and protecting those assets.

• IT asset management • Financial management • Planning & evaluation

• Business continuity planning
• Capacity management
• Change management
• Managing consultant staff
• Contract management & vendor
relations
• Customer Relationship
Management (CRM)
• Customer service
• Internal controls
• Leadership
• Managing agency staff
• Negotiation & conflict resolution
• Oral communication
• Organizational awareness &
business knowledge
• IT procurement
• Project management
• IT project portfolio management
• IT risk assessment management
• IT strategic planning
• Supervisory skills
• Written communication

Infrastructure: (33 skills) Competency comprises those skills that assure the effective design, operation, and
integration of networks, security features, operating systems, and associated support services.

• Network and architecture design • Identity management & directory
principles services
• Backup & recovery • Intrusion detection
• Biometrics • Linux operating systems
• Broadband technologies • Mac OS /OS X operating systems
• Cellular technologies • Mobile computing
• Computer forensics • Network configuration
• Cryptography • Novell operating systems
• Disaster recovery & planning • Open systems server
• Encryption administration
• Firewalls • Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
• Hardware & maintenance support • Principles of operating systems
• Satellite technologies
• System security applications
• Technology training activities
• Telephone /PBX
• Unified messaging services
• Video imaging
• Voice over IP
• Wide Area Networks (WAN)
• Web/IP
• Windows operating systems
• Windows network operating
systems
• Wireless technologies

Web Computing: (29 skills) Competency associated with the Web encompasses the application of principles
and effective use of tools and techniques that allow the Web to be used as a platform for well-designed,
accessible information-based services.

• Borland JBuilder • Microsoft Access • Visual Studio .NET

• C • Microsoft SQL • Web accessibility
• C++ • MySQL • Web design & development
• ColdFusion • Unix operating systems • Web-based graphics &
• DHTML/ HTML/ XHTML • Oracle JDDevStudio multimedia
• Eclipse • Perl/CGI • Website management
• IBM WebSphere Studio • PHP • Website privacy
• Java • Unified Modeling Language • Website search administration
• JavaScript (UML) • Web servers
• Java Studio • Visual Basic • XML/XSL
• Visual Basic Script

Systems & Databases: (19 skills) Competency encompasses the principles and techniques of system analysis,
design, development, and implementation, including the ability to build applications and databases as integral

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IT Competency Framework

components of systems.

• Database applications & • Object-oriented analysis & design
development techniques principles
• CASE tools • Oracle
• Database design & development • Business process analysis
standards • Principles of programming
• Joint Application Development • SQL
(JAD) • Quality assurance
• System life cycle planning • Rapid Application Development
principles (RAD)/ prototyping
• Requirements analysis
• Structured system analysis &
design principles
• Systems architecture
• Systems implementation
• Systems integration
• Technical documentation
• Testing & evaluation

Technical Support Services: (3 skills) Competency encompasses the skills associated with effective end-user
computing and customer support.

• Support for desktop applications • Help desk activities • Call center activities

Management & Use of Information as an Asset: (12 skills) Competency in this area focuses on creating,
preserving, and generating value from information content, including skills associated with data definition, records
management, knowledge and information sharing, data analysis, and support for collaboration and decision
making.

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) • Decision support systems • Metadata management

• Collaboration software • Enterprise Resource Planning
• Content management (ERP) systems
• Data warehousing • Geographic Information Systems
(GIS)
• Knowledge Management (KM)
• Modeling & simulation
• Records management
• Workflow management

Legacy Technologies: (7 skills) Legacy-oriented competency encompasses the skills associated with effective
use and management of mainframe computing and related programming languages and operating systems.

• COBOL • IBM mainframe • PowerBuilder

• Fortran • Mainframe operations • Unisys mainframe
• IBM/DB2

Statewide competency patterns

We used several methods to assess the relative strength of proficiency across the competency areas. These
included calculating an overall mean proficiency rating for the skills in each competency area, counting the
number and proportion of skills in each area that had mean proficiency ratings in the highest(1) and lowest(2)
range, and looking at the number of skills in each competency for which the most frequent proficiency rating was
high(3) or low(4). All of these methods produced the same pattern. Table 10 provides a summary. Overall, higher
proficiency ratings exists in technical support services, management, systems and databases, and legacy
technologies while lower proficiency ratings exists in infrastructure, web computing, and management and use of
information as an asset.
Table 10. Statewide competency overview - skill proficiency ratings

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IT Competency Framework

Higher overall skill proficiency ratings occurs in Lower overall skill proficiency ratings occurs in
these competency areas these competency areas

• Technical services • Infrastructure

• Management • Web computing
• Systems and databases • Management and use of information as an asset
• Legacy systems

We conducted a similar analysis of the training demand data looking for patterns of high numbers and proportions
of employees who want training in skills assigned to each competency area. Training demand patterns by
competency area are summarized in Table 11.
Table 11. Statewide competency overview - training demand

Higher training demand occurs in these Lower training demand occurs in these competency
competency areas areas

• Management • Systems and databases

• Infrastructure • Management and use of information as an asset
• Web computing • Technical services
• Legacy systems

Higher training demand for infrastructure and web computing match well with lower proficiency rating patterns for
these competency areas. Lower training demand matches the higher proficiency ratings reported for systems and
databases, technical services, and legacy systems. Management exhibits both higher proficiency ratings and
higher demand, as noted above, while the management and use of information as an asset exhibits both lower
proficiency ratings and lower demand. We use these results, along with the IT forecasts provided by the CIO
surveys to conduct the gap analysis described later in this report.

(1) Selected if the mean was 2.0 or higher on a scale of 1 – 4 or a mean of 3.0 or higher on a scale of 1 – 5.
(2) Selected if the mean was 1.5 or lower on a scale of 1 – 4 or a mean of 2.5 or lower on a scale of 1 – 5.
(3) Selected if the mode was equal to 3 or 4.
(4) Selected if the mode was equal to 1 or 2.

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© 2003 Center for Technology in Government www.ctg.albany.edu